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For shrinking Mississippi River towns, frequent floods worsen fortunes

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For shrinking Mississippi River towns, frequent floods worsen fortunes


Homes outside the protected area got swamped, though. Much of the flooding was from Bear Creek as the Mississippi backed up into it.

Over the years, silt from the river has worked its way into the creek, clogging storm drains and worsening flash flooding, Mayor Barry Louderman said.

Louderman estimated at least a half-dozen companies that employed a combined 300 to 400 people “are just gone, were never replaced,” due to persistent flooding. First Street’s models show Hannibal would have likely grown over the last two decades if not for flooding.

Steve Dungan has lived on Ely Street near Bear Creek all of his 54 years. As a child, he fished from the porch when the creek rose.

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One summer night in 1993, Dungan was at a hospital in nearby Quincy, Illinois, where his wife was about to give birth to their daughter. He got a call that the water was coming up fast, and relatives and friends were scurrying to salvage what they could from his home by boat.

“We lost the waterbed, stove, refrigerator — stuff they couldn’t pack out,” he said.

With family anchoring him to the area, he chose to stay.

Ray Allen, another longtime Ely Street resident who also operated an auto repair and welding shop there, did not. He recalled being awakened by a noise during that 1993 flooding.

“Jumped up out of bed and was standing in water knee-deep beside the bed,” Allen, now 80, recalled. “That’s a rude awakening, I’ll tell you that.”

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The government bought out nearly all of the homes on Ely Street and in many other neighborhoods vulnerable to Bear Creek. People scattered. Some, like Allen and his wife of 63 years, Rachel, left town, though they moved back about 12 years ago and now live high on a hill.

He misses his old friends and neighbors on Ely Street.

“All of the people that were good friends down there kind of got busted apart,” he said.

West Alton is a two-hour drive downriver from Hannibal. In 1993, Sugar Vanburen watched as most of her mobile home floated down the river. Only what was bolted down remained — the floor, a toilet and furnace.

Her sister left, but not Sugar. It’s where she grew up. She likes the quiet community. Her grandchildren go to a good school. Residents learn how to empty mud from the basement and get neighbors to help clean up.

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After the 1993 flood, the Federal Emergency Management Agency offered buyouts to some facing severe flood risk. Recently, letters for a new round of voluntary buyouts went out.

Sugar threw hers away. But Robert Myers, St. Charles County’s planning and zoning division director, said the goal is to buy out as many as 100 homes across the county.

Mayor Richter recalls the West Alton of decades ago: three churches, an ice cream shop, four taverns where people hung out.

“Now we don’t have any churches. We have one tavern that’s open and it just got reopened not too long ago,” he said. “A lot of that community stuff is gone.”

Tom Silk lives next to a vacant lot that was once home to the church he attended and where he married.

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Silk likes the town. It’s rural, peaceful. But it takes work to stay. His front door still bears the water stain right at the handle marking the 2019 flood — second-highest on record.

That year, he packed up a U-Haul and left for about two months. It took a year and a half to repair his house — he did the work after finishing shifts loading trucks at a FedEx warehouse — but he wanted to stay.

“It’s quiet, it is the country life, but … you are still by the city if you need to do anything or go anywhere,” he said.

Richter said flooding is so frequent that he probably wouldn’t live in town if he didn’t grow up locally, farm and have strong community connections. The town has organized July 4 celebrations and a flea market family fun day in the fall. People come back. But there’s a sense of loss.

Vanburen misses neighbors who moved away.

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“Everybody’s gone,” she said. “This is a ghost town.”

Cairo, Illinois, is surrounded by a levee at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. It’s endured a lot.

First rising as a hub for steamboats in the 19th century, Cairo peaked around 1920 with about 15,000 people, including a sizeable Black population. It had attractive retail shops, several rail lines and a healthy manufacturing sector. It was also strictly segregated, and protests in the 1960s met violence that spiraled for years. The city has hemorrhaged people during a downward economic trend that’s never stopped, according to local historian Klinkenberg.

Its population today is about 10% of peak. Retail and manufacturing are gone. For a long time, it didn’t have a grocery store. Most of the place is abandoned, with brick buildings cracked by growing trees.

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GPS data tracks boat Mississippi teen Nolan Wells was on before he went missing

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GPS data tracks boat Mississippi teen Nolan Wells was on before he went missing


GPS data from the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, obtained by CBS News, tracks the movements of the boat that carried Nolan Wells to Horn Island on July 4. Wells was found dead after going missing following an outing on the island.

The vessel left a dock at approximately 9:56 a.m. that morning and arrived at Horn Island at 11:14 a.m. CBS News has previously reported that Wells was not on the boat when it departed the island. 

According to the GPS data, the boat left Horn Island at 4:31 p.m. and returned to its original departure dock. It then traveled into Fort Bayou around 5:52 p.m. before returning to the dock at 6:06 p.m.

Later that evening, the boat went to the Fort Bayou boat launch at 7:19 p.m., according to the MSDMR report. From there, it traveled over land — presumably towed by a vehicle — to the Biloxi, Mississippi, residence of the boat’s owners. 

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The MSDMR report indicates that the boat’s owner, his mother and one other individual who was reportedly with Wells on the day of the incident have cooperated with the investigation.

The department’s report ends on July 5, following notification that the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office would take over as the lead investigative agency.

This undated photo provided by the family in July 2026 shows Nolan Xavier Wells with his mother, Christine Wonsley.

Family photo via AP

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Wells, 18, was last seen on July 4 on Horn Island, where he had taken a boat trip with friends to celebrate the holiday, officials said. Wells traveled to the island with his friends but did not return to the mainland with them that afternoon, Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter has said.

He was last seen on the island at 3 p.m., according to attorney Ben Crump’s office. His mother reported him missing later that night and a search began.

His body was discovered July 6 off the coast of the island, which is about 10 miles south of the Mississippi mainland, following a search that involved the U.S. Coast Guard, the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources and the National Park Service.

Dental records confirmed the body was Wells, Jackson County coroner Bruce Lynd told CBS News. An autopsy took place on July 7, Lynd said, but the results were not immediately made public. Wells’ body was flown to Washington, D.C., for an independent autopsy, according to Crump. 

Wells’ parents have said they don’t believe their son would’ve stayed behind on the island by choice when his friends left by boat.

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Christine and Elmore Wonsley, the parents of Nolan Wells, spoke to “CBS Mornings” on Friday, July 10, 2026.

CBS News


“No, he wouldn’t. Nolan always stays with the group,” Elmore Wonsley, Nolan’s father, told “CBS Mornings” last week. “If you be with me, you come back with me. So that I don’t understand, and with me being a parent, if I was in that situation, I would have told them, ‘You’re going to get back on this boat with me because I don’t want to answer to your parents if something happens to you.’”

When directly asked if he believed Nolan was left behind on the island, his father responded, “Yes. I don’t believe he decided to stay on the island by himself. It just doesn’t — that’s not his character.”

Wells went to Ocean Springs High School and was a rising sophomore on Southwest Mississippi Community College’s football team. Crump said Wells was a good swimmer.

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How permanent daylight saving time would impact Mississippi

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How permanent daylight saving time would impact Mississippi


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Are Americans finally done changing the clocks twice a year? Congress moved a step closer to ending the ritual after the U.S. House passed legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent.

It hasn’t been approved by the Senate yet, but it did pass the House with broad support (308-117). If it passes the Senate, it could be signed by President Donald Trump or become law without his signature, unless he vetoes it.

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Trump has previously backed ending twice-a-year time changes.

“I am going to work very hard to see The Sunshine Protection Act signed into Law. It’s time that people can stop worrying about the ‘Clock,’” he wrote in a May Truth Social post.

A few versions of the Sunshine Protection Act were introduced in Congress. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Florida, introduced the one that’s gaining ground last year.

Here’s what to know about daylight saving time and the move to change it.

What is daylight saving time and why do we use it?

Daylight saving time is the practice of setting clocks forward an hour from March until November in an effort to gain more sunlight during the summer months.

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According to the Library of Congress, it was first enacted in 1918 as a fuel cost-saving measure during World War I.

Daylight saving time became federal law under the Uniform Time Act of 1966. Under the law, some states can opt to exempt themselves from daylight saving time.

Would Mississippi keep daylight saving time year-round?

In 2021, the Mississippi Legislature passed a law saying the state plans to stick with daylight saving time year-round. But that only takes effect if Congress changes the federal law to let states adopt it all the time. A bill updating the effective date died in committee in the 2026 session.

Nineteen states, including Mississippi, are ready to make daylight saving time permanent if Congress changes the law to make the twice-a-year time shift optional, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).

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How later sunrises would affect Mississippi

Sunrise and sunset times in summer would look the same.

But the period from November to March would be different. The amount of daylight would be the same, just shifted an hour later than usual.

Mississippi could expect the latest winter sunrises around 7:59 a.m. in mid-January. The earliest sunsets would shift from about 4:46 p.m. in early December to 5:46 p.m., according to timeanddate.com.

Why permanent daylight saving time failed before

Yes. Congress did drop Daylight Saving Time before.

The move failed in 1974 after parents worried about kids going to school before dawn, risking more vehicle crashes.

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Some parts of the country, like Michigan or Indiana, don’t see sunrise until after 9 a.m. with the permanent daylight saving time.

When clocks fall back in 2026

Clocks will “fall back” from 2 a.m. to 1 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, unless Congress changes the law.

Daylight saving time ends on the first Sunday in November each year, under current law. That’s when we get back that missing hour of sleep from the spring time change.

Does Mississippi change clocks twice a year?

Yes. Mississippi, which is in the Central time zone, observes daylight saving time.

What time is it in Mississippi?

Visit timeanddate.com to see the current time in Jackson.

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Which states don’t observe daylight saving time?

Most of the U.S. participates in daylight saving time except for Hawaii and most of Arizona. The Navajo Nation in the northeast corner of the state does participate.

Bonnie Bolden is the Deep South Connect reporter for Mississippi with USA TODAY Network. Email her at bbolden@usatodayco.com.

Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. Keep up with her on X @melinakh and Instagram @bymelinakhan.





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Mississippi teen accused of killing elderly couple had worked for them before shooting: family

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Mississippi teen accused of killing elderly couple had worked for them before shooting: family


A teenager in Mississippi knew the elderly couple he’s accused of killing before sparking a standoff with law enforcement, according to new testimony in court.

Cordarius Hobbs, 17, is charged with killing 74-year-old Billy Blair and his 71-year-old wife Virginia Carol Blair during a home break-in on June 3 in Mendenhall, Mississippi.

Family members of Hobbs testified during the Thursday preliminary hearing that he knew the couple.

Family members testified that Hobbs did work for the Blairs for things like cleaning around the house before the alleged shooting, according to WAPT.

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Billy Newsome, Hobbs’ grandfather, said he believes his grandson was called to work on the day of the alleged shooting but believes he’s innocent.

“My grandson used to work for the man, why you gone rob a man that you work for,” Newsome said. “Why you gone stay there that long and you know the police out there, and then you gone wait until everybody gets there to run, it just ain’t adding up, something just ain’t right here.”

Cordarius Hobbs, 17, is charged with killing 74-year-old Billy Blair and his 71-year-old wife Virginia Carol Blair during a home break-in on June 3 in Mendenhall, Mississippi. Rankin County Jail

On June 3, three contractors installing a generator at the Blairs’ home discovered Carol Blair’s car door open with several guns on the seats around 10 a.m., prompting them to call the Simpson County Sheriff’s Department for a welfare check at 11:30 a.m, according to a Mississippi Bureau of Investigation investigator.

By noon, the investigator said that officers arrived and were met with shots fired at them, starting a nearly two-hour-long standoff.

Hobbs was captured after trying to run away from officers, the official said, adding that the teen was unarmed when he was caught.

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Family members testified that Hobbs worked for Billy and Virginia Blair before they were found shot to death. Family Handout
Hobbs was captured after trying to run away from officers, the official said, adding that the teen was unarmed when he was caught. 16 WAPT News Jackson

Carol Blair was found in a bedroom curled in the fetal position and had three gunshots to the back of her head. Bill Blair was found lying on his back in the kitchen with three gunshot wounds to his face.

The state investigator said three firearms were found inside the home as well as 280 shell casings, all owned by Bill Blair.

Hobbs’ defense attorney, Zachary Vaugh, argued that there’s a lack of direct forensic evidence connecting the teenager to the shooting.

Hobbs is charged with two counts of capital murder and one count of burglary, in addition to 10 other charges. He was denied bond. WLBT

“There was nothing to say he’s a principal, he’s the one that pulled the trigger on these things,” Vaugh said. “One of the things alone was, one of the victims was shot twice on one side of the head and once on the other. I think that’s pretty compelling that somebody else may have been in there. There’s a lot of things that are possible, just a tremendous amount of things.”

“When you have an officer say there’s no one that can identify him at the time of the shooting, I just don’t see how that adds up,” he said.

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Hobbs is charged with two counts of capital murder and one count of burglary, in addition to 10 other charges. He was denied bond.

In a statement on Facebook, the couple’s family previously said, “We are crushed in spirit, bruised, and brokenhearted, but we are not alone.”

Jason Busby, who was friends with the couple, remembered them as being extremely selfless when speaking with WLBT.

“The man would’ve given you the shirt off his back, his wife is the same, and they’re just great people. It’s just a tragedy,” Busby said. “Everybody around here is still in shock. They were just good people.”

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